Top Baby Sleep Questions Answered

November 16, 2017

If your baby isn’t sleeping well the most important thing you need to know is you are not alone. So many parents are struggling with the same baby sleep issues that you are and we at Good Night Sleep Site are asked these common sleep questions often. Find out how you can help your baby sleep through the night and take great naps.

Should I be doing a bedtime routine with my baby and when should I start?

It’s important to have a consistent bedtime routine because this is going to help prepare your baby that it’s time to go to bed and also allows for some wonderful cuddles and attachment time with you and baby. A great bedtime routine can actually be practiced from day 1. You can also include a short naptime routine to help prepare them for some great daytime slumber.

What time should I be putting my baby to bed?

When our children are going to sleep well-rested they will have an easier time falling asleep because they won’t be overtired. Overtired babies and children have a harder time falling asleep and more nightly wakings as well. Sometimes just by bumping up bedtime, your child will sleep much better at night. A typical bedtime for babies 4-12 months is 5:30-7pm, depending on how naps go throughout the day. Mom and dad can get their nights back and your baby will go down before he’s overtired.

How can I help my child take longer naps?

By four to six months, babies will start showing a more predictable pattern of daytime sleep, so it’s a great time to start developing a nap schedule. Daytime sleep is one of the most important fundamentals in creating healthy sleep at night, but they’re also one of the most common sleep issues out there. We want to aim for a consolidated nap of at least and hour or more. While short naps of 30-45 minutes are common, it’s not enough of a restorative sleep and they are capable of pushing into the next cycle with a lot of persistence and consistency.

How do I teach my baby to fall asleep on their own?

You have to remember that however your baby falls asleep at bedtime is how they are going to need to fall asleep when they wake up in the middle of the night. It’s important to teach independent sleep skills so that whenever baby does wake up they don’t need you to help them fall back to sleep. We need to remove sleep associations, like rocking and nursing to sleep. Put your child to bed awake and choose the sleep training method that works best for your family and stay consistent throughout the process.

Why does my baby wake up so early?

The first thing we want to make sure is that your baby’s room is conducive to sleep. We want to make sure that the early morning light is blacked out so you may want to invest in black out blinds. Also, a white noise machine can come in handy to keep the early morning birds and traffic sounds at bay. The other issue could be your child isn’t getting the proper amount of consolidated sleep throughout the day and going to bed too late. Because of this your child could become overtired, which can result in more restless sleep throughout the night and an earlier wake time. Working on lengthening out naps and sometimes moving bedtimes slightly earlier can help push out those early morning wakings.

Did you miss our LIVE Sleep Clinic on Monday? No problem… Check out the video below!

We are LIVE at our Slumber Party with Cheryl Hickey and Alanna from Good Night Sleep Site talking all about sleep! Ask us your questions and we could answer it live! Comment, like, and share the LIVE event to win a HALO Sleep Bassinest, and a prize pack from The Gro Company as well as one of the SWAG bags our live audience has received! Here's to a better night's sleep!**The entry period has ended and all winners have been selected and notified. **

Alanna McGinn is Founder and Certified Sleep Consultant of www.goodnightsleepsite.com, a global sleep consulting practice. She is Representative and Director for the International Association of Child Sleep Consultants (IACSC) and serves on the faculty of The Family Sleep Institute. She and her husband, Mike, live in Burlington, Ontario with their 3 children (1+twins!) and when she’s not on route to the bus stop or tripping over fire trucks and tea sets, she and her global team are working with families to overcome their sleep challenges. You can follow her expert advice in national publications like Today’s Parent, Yummy Mummy Club, PBS Kids, and Canadian Living. Alanna strives in helping families and corporations overcome their sleep challenges and have happy well-rested smiles in the morning. You can find out more about Alanna McGinn and Good Night Sleep Site and you can join Alanna on the first Wednesday of every month at the Burlington location of Snuggle Bugz/Nestled for her in-person sleep clinic from 10-11am. Follow Good Night Sleep Site on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your sleep essentials.